Fresno, Revisited
We moved out of Fresno more than a year ago, but find occasion to return every now and then — mostly for doctors’ appointments. Yes, it’s difficult to grow older, and the need for doctors’ visits seemingly takes up more and more of “retirement” time. But we make that effort and take that time so that we can continue HAVING more “retirement” time, if you know what I mean.
Anyway, we made our way back to Fresno this past weekend and stayed a few days. More than one doctor to see, you see. And after the final visit, I had a couple of hours to spare, so I drove downtown, found a free parking spot, and walked to the south end of Fulton Street, which used to be the south end of the Fulton Mall — and before that, yes, the south end of Fulton Street.
I grew up in Fresno before the mall was put in. Back then — in the ’50’s and early ’60’s — the street was home to the city’s biggest and best department stores. Gottschalks, Penney’s, Woolworth’s, Montgomery Ward, Roos/Atkins, Harry Coffee’s — they were all there, and they all made big impressions on me. They all seemed “big city,” and downtown Fresno, in general, seemed “big city.”
But City Fathers saw Something Wicked coming Fresno’s way and felt they had to act. What they saw was that more and more people were moving North, and as those folks did so, they started shopping and dining out elsewhere — closer to where they lived. So Fresno rolled the dice in 1964 — tearing out historic Fulton Street over a six-block stretch and replacing it with something new and innovative — an outdoor mall, complete with fountains and sculptures and trees. For this then-teenaged boy, it was a cornucopia of delights. For the city, it was an experiment. Could a mall bring shoppers back downtown and stem the retail erosion taking place?
The immediate answer — yes. But then — a few years after the mall’s opening — City Fathers made a fatal mistake — approving a giant, shiny new “super mall” — an indoor one — in northeast Fresno, near the university. And that, my friends, was the end of downtown’s story. The new Fashion Fair Mall took away the last vestiges of retail business from the legendary old-time stores downtown. They either moved north — or closed. Worse –or at least, equally as bad — the great old “skyscrapers” built in the Roaring ’20’s — which had housed doctors and lawyers and tax accountants and other professionals for years — depopulated, as tenants moved north to be Out There with Everyone Else. And the Fulton Mall — built with such high hopes — aged and deteriorated, just as downtown did.
Fast-forward to 2018 — last year — when, after decades of angst over what to do with the mall — the city tore it out and restored Fulton Street. Vestiges of the old mall remained on each side — some artwork, some fountains — but the street re-opened to two-way traffic again. And during that grand re-opening last October — heralded by some as “the turning point” for downtown — the thing that would bring back businesses and people and nightlife — thousands of people showed up.
The problem is — those thousands disappeared after opening weekend. When I walked the mall — I mean, street — this past Monday afternoon — it was 4 p.m. — and there were few others with me. Many of the Fulton Street stores were aimed at an audience with little or no money, and many others were still vacant — with iron bars in front. The historic skyrises are still largely empty. There are several new restaurants that have opened in recent months to much bally-hoo in the always-cheerleading Fresno Bee — but when I looked in the windows, the few customers I saw were — shall we say, looking destitute.
One of the saddest sights was where the original Fresno City Hall was built on Fulton in the 1880’s. It has iron bars in front of it now — and trash behind the bars and in front of the doors. Not a great way to keep Fresno’s history alive.
The biggest construction project downtown — in fact, the only one I could find — is a few blocks east of Fulton. A giant new Fresno County Jail facility is going up, next to the existing giant Fresno County jail facility. Yes, jails are big deals, and dominate Fresno’s skyline.
So the Fulton Street experiment has not yielded the kind of instant results some had promised. However, it’s early, and there’s no doubt that keeping the old mall was no longer an option. It had failed, and something — anything — needed to be done. It took awhile — decades — to kill downtown as a retail center, and it will take awhile to bring any real signs of life back.
One sight I took as a note of optimism – the clock tower at Fulton and Mariposa that was installed when the mall went in. For decades, as the mall deteriorated, the four-sided clock was broken. But this past Monday, it was keeping time perfectly when I strolled by. It’s a small thing — but by keeping a venerable clock in a public place working — the city is showing a determination to get things going, again, downtown. I hope it all works out.